Service Updates & Upcoming Public Holidays – w/c 27th April

Here you will find the latest global service updates and a list of upcoming worldwide public holidays. This is updated throughout the week with latest information available.

Service Updates

GENERAL (1): Air France has announced warned of ‘severe disruption’ to its flight schedule, with strike action scheduled for April 16th-18th and April 29th-May 2nd. Whilst we will endeavour to utilise our other airlines to move mail, reduced capacity is to be expected on alternative flights so delays may occur.

GENERAL (2): Following the earthquake in Nepal, Delhi International Airport is currently being used as a transit zone for the large amounts of humanitarian aid being sent to region. Due to this, disruption is expected to flight schedules and flight paths for planes landing or transiting this airport.

Canada & USA – A number of factors have resulted in delays to mail processing at JFK, New York, these are: A change of Ground Handling Services for one of the airlines has caused a build up of mail. Continuing severe weather conditions along with a significant increase in mail volumes from China ahead of the Chinese New Year, has resulted in delays of at least 24 hours.

UPDATE: The weather surrounding JFK, New York, has not improved but USPS is continuing to work on resolving remaining mail handover issues with the new ground-handling company.
Throughout the period, the JFK mail hub has been accepting and processing all the mail it receives and USPS continues to deliver mail to all areas despite the bad weather impacting on normal services. USPS continue to work on processing the inbound mail volumes as quickly as possible. . Ongoing (issue start date: 02/02/15 – updated 23/03/15)

Australia – The recent extreme weather conditions have resulted in floods and damage to roadways in parts of the New South Wales area of Australia. This is affecting the delivery of mail, particularly in the Postcode 2xxx area.

UPDATE: The Australian post office have informed us that as of the 27th April, services have returned to normal. Resolved (issue start date: 21/04/15 – updated 28/04/15)

Belgium – A public sector union in Belgium have announced a national strike for Wednesday 22 April. It is expected that during the strike period, there will be delays to mail sorting, transportation and mail delivery throughout the country. Resolved (issue start date: 22/04/15)

Cayman Islands – The designated operator of the Cayman Islands, Cayman Islands Postal Service, has informed us that since Friday, 24 April 2015, network problems have resulted in limited access to the Internet in certain areas of Grand Cayman. This may have an impact on the ability to enter deliveries and dispatches or take receipt of mail items sent from overseas. Ongoing (issue start date: 24/04/15)

China – High volumes of mail arriving in Shanghai and Guangzhou are resulting in backlogs and capacity issues for China Post. Delays to mail services are likely. Ongoing (issue start date: 03/11/14)

Chile – Due to flooding in northern Chile, mail services will be delayed in the following areas for the next few days: Antofagasta, Tocopilla, Copiapó, Caldera, Tierra Amarilla, Chañaral, Diego de Almagro, Vallenar, Alto del Carmen, Freirina and Huasco.Resolved (issue start date: 25/03/15)

Chile – Following the eruption of the Calbuco volcano last week in Chile, airports in the area were closed for a period. Although most are now open, this is causing disruption to mail services in several parts of Southern Chile. Resolved

UPDATE: As of Tuesday 28th April, Correos Chile (the Chilean postal authority) have announced that all operations affected by the volcanic eruption have returned to normalResolved (issue start date: 23/04/15 – updated 28/04/15)

Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania – Mail despatches to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are currently experiencing minor delays due to airline availability issues. As a result we anticipate a delay to mail services of an extra day due to the reduced flight availability. Ongoing (issue start date: 19/02/15)

France – Further delays are expected in the Thuir region (66300) due to continued industrial action. Ongoing (issue start date: 20/04/15)

Germany – The Union Ver.di has again announced a range of regional strikes throughout Germany. Delays to mail handling, processing or delivery may be experienced. Ongoing (issue start date: 20/04/15)

Italy – Poste Italiane has informed us that a strike of workers dealing with parcel processing is slowing down the normal operation of parcel processing and delivery. This strike started on Thursday 23rd April and it has not been confirmed how long this will last. Ongoing (issue start date: 23/04/15)

Nepal – An earthquake, approximately 50 miles north west of Kathmandu, has caused severe damage in northern Nepal. Severe disruption to mail services is expected.

UPDATE: All mail services in Nepal have been officially suspended and Kathmandu Airport is now closed to all commercial cargo due to the humanitarian relief effort in the region. Ongoing (issue start date: 27/04/15 – updated 30/04/15)

Portugal – The pilot’ s union of TAP has announced a 10-day strike which will take place from Friday 1st May 2015 until Sunday 10th May 2015.This strike will have a significant impact on the processing of inbound, outbound and transit mail. We are trying to source alternative routes but significant delays are to be expected. Ongoing (issue start date: 30/04/15)

Spain – The Spanish post office (Correos) has reported that trade unions have called for a partial strike in Correos’ Madrid facilities (Madrid 28000 – 28999) for Thursday 30th April. This includes Madrid OE, sorting centre (Madrid CTA), delivery units and postal offices and is scheduled to run for 4 hours. As consequence all inbound and outbound processes could be severely affected during this time, not only services from/to Madrid area, and could cause serious delays and backlog during 1st May (national holiday), 2nd May (regional holiday in Madrid) and 3rd May.

UPDATE: Further strike action has been announced for the 4th May in the form of a national strike covering all postal operations in Spain. Delays should be expected. Ongoing(issue start date: 30/04/15 – updated 30/04/15)